| Short stack Gary Jones lasted nineteen hands before making his exit. Pushing all of his 6,500 remaining chips into the middle on the back of his pocket nines (9d9h), he came up against the call of Roland De Wolfe (ad4d). The flop (8s 7c kc) offered no help to either player, but an ace showed up on the turn (ah), and no nine on the river (6d) meant Jones headed to the door for sixth place and no dough.
Guy Bowles suffered a similar fate five hands later. With a pair of sixes in the hole (6d6c), he went all in against De Wolfe who had king three suited (kd3d) in his pocket. The flop (ts 5c kd) put De Wolfe in prime position, and left Bowles sweating for another six. When the turn and river dropped an ace (ac) and a four (4d), it was fifth place, no cash and a taxi home for Bowles.
It was three hours and thirty-five hands later before the next player bit the dust, and this time it was the self-styled ‘Enigma' who handed out the fatal blow, with De Wolfe on the receiving end. De Wolfe moved all in for 5,600 pre-flop on the back of his pocket king queen (kh qs), while the Enigma, who had ace king (ah kc) in the hole, called.
The flop came down 5c, 9s and 2s, the turn dropped 6s, and only another spade on the river could dig De Wolfe out of his predicament. When the final card turned over a 4c, it was curtains for De Wolfe, who went home in fourth place with an extra £1,850 in his wallet.
The final trio was the original chip leader Andrew Feldman, who'd stretched his advantage to about 10,000 over Darren Woods and the Enigma, who were looking at stacks of 31,900 and 31,200 respectively.
The increasing strength of the Enigma became obvious when on the eighty-second hand he sent Woods packing. With a jack and an ace in the hole (jd as), Enigma put in a 4,000 raise pre-flop only to be met with a 12,200 all-in from Woods who was holding pocket twos (2d 2c). Enigman called and they were off to the races. The flop (8d qd kh) left Woods looking cosy for the win but when a jack (jc) dropped down on the turn and the river brought only a six (6c), the Enigma took the pot and Woods went to the rail for third place and £2,850.
The heads-up kicked off with the twenty year-old Feldman holding a decent chip lead of 66,300 to the Enigma's 38,700. However, relentless pressure and some superb bluff play saw Enigma quickly demolish Feldman's stack. The end finally came for Feldman when sitting on ace nine (ad9h), he put in a 5,000 raise which Enigma called with jack eight (jh 8c) in the hole. When the flop came down 7c 8h 3d, Enigma countered Feldman's 8,000 rise with an all-in; after suffering several minutes of steely-eyed stares from Enigma, Feldman decided to call. With Feldman needing an ace or a nine, the turn came down tc and the river 4d, sealing Feldman's fate and handing a much deserved victory to Enigma.
Feldman took home £5,650 for second place while Enigma grabbed £8,400 and the trophy for his win. |
